Appendix A Food Bank 2017 report for Carlisle Local Committee - - PDF document

Appendix A Food Bank 2017 report for Carlisle Local Committee Premises In May 2017 the Foodbank has moved from its base at St Nicholas Bridge to a temporary home at the Nisi Prius building on English Street. The organisation had to move from the previous premises through circumstance beyond its control and are extremely grateful for the support provided by Cumbria County Council to enable the service to continue in a central location. However the new building has provided some challenges for the delivery of the service, and highlighted some of the benefits of the previous space. The location and lay out of the Nisi Prius building has meant that some additional services have had to be temporarily suspended or re-located till a new location can be found. This includes additional drop in support from CAB or the use of a kitchen for the ‘food waste cafe project’ and the provision of tea and coffee has also been suspended. Taxi drivers make deliveries to Nisi Prius very difficult and parking for volunteers is impossible. Some service users have also mentioned being “embarrassed” by the main street visibility of the entrance. The reception area at Nisi Prius acts as a pressure cooker and the police have had to be called on three occasions. The manager has also called a lock-down when feeling unsettled by certain behaviour. The nature of the organisations user group includes people who present with challenging behaviours which in a confined space can be difficult to manage. Thus the Foodbank is seeking alternative premises where there can be some cooking facilities. A place with sufficient room to allow the service users to circulate would defuse some of the problems. The volunteers miss the ability to speak to service users over a cup of tea when it is possible to steer some in the direction of other third sector organisations who could offer further support. Subject to their priorities and resources it would be possible to reintroduce drop in sessions by Citizens Advice Bureau and Oak Tree Trust and potentially Mind. Having said all the above the numbers of people being served continues to increase and as Universal Credit reaches full implementation shortly it is anticipated that more people will have need of the service.

Surplus food waste project Part of the Foodbank's development is to use surplus food to add to what we provide people who use our service. This has the benefit of adding to our long life supplies; providing ‘home made’ fresh food; preventing food waste and surplus food waste going to landfill. In 2016 nearly 4 tonnes of surplus food was

• collected. At the time of writing figures are unavailable but at a guess at least 3

times as much was collected last year. At St Nicholas a volunteer chef (an ex-service user) used this surplus food to make meals which were frozen and handed out in place of long-life food to those who wanted it and who had appropriate kitchen facilities. The new premises doesn’t have the same facilities but the proprietors of The Samson Inn at Gilsland, offered the use of their chefs and kitchen during their quiet period which kept part of the project going. They continue to supply many frozen meals but will be ceasing shortly. It is hoped that a plan to base the operation at Botcherby Community Centre will continue this project including the added benefit of providing cooking classes and a possible cafe using the food waste, and the funding provided by Cumbria County Council has enabled this to be piloted. The scheme will be using surplus food from Marks and Spencer at Kingstown in addition to that already collected from M & S English Street and the surplus tins provided by catering wholesellers.

Appendix B People using the Foodbank service in 2017 The total number of people fed through the Foodbank in 2017 was over 6,000, which equates to 3296 referrals (table 1). These referrals come from a variety of agencies and for a variety of reasons, however in 2017 the largest reasons for referral was for budget, followed by a delay in benefits (table 2). Table 3 shows the number of food vouchers distributed from 2014 - 2017 and shows that there is still a need for this service with an average of 250 people receiving vouchers in each year.

469 300 363 282 315 341 346 341 396 389 404 387 179 149 188 117 136 114 122 140 154 155 125 168

175 350 525 700

Adults 2017 Children 2017

Table 1: Carlisle Food Bank Total People Fed 2017 = 6080

Budget Delayed Benefit Benefit Loss/Cap Homeless Debt Universal Credit Other <10

350 700 1,050 1,400

Table 2: Presenting Issues at Food Bank (2017)

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 85 170 255 340 425

2017 2016 2015 2014 Table 3: Carlisle Foodbank Vouchers 2014 - 2017